Billy Graham's Daughter, Ann Graham, Says it's O.K. To Discriminate Against Atheists.

The daughter of televangelist Rev. Billy Graham, Ann Graham says that it’s important to discriminate against candidates who are atheists because politicians “should have a fear for almighty God.”

Green Man: I heard her say this live, and my jaw dropped wide open. This bigoted comment came just seconds after she said people who are considering whether to vote for a Mormon or not should look at the candidates "policies" rather than their religious beliefs. I guess that only applies to believers in "God." The constitution states that no religious testshould be given as a criteria for public office. Yet that is exactly what Ms. Graham and others like her do every election toward non-Christians.

She was way out of line and not engendering the spirit of brotherhood that Jesus taught about. How are we supposed to work together if Christians dismiss atheists out of hand? As an atheist, I have voted for no one butChristians, and it never kept me from voting based on their policies. Christians dismiss atheists and non-Christians as untrustworthy and evil but then Christians wonder why non-believers feel so discriminated against??? Wake up America -- this is supposed to be a religious free country!! Freedom of religion and freedom from religion. Can you imagine the outrage if President Obama was an atheist and said he wouldn't vote for a Christian?!! And the outrage would be justified. What she said was extremely irresponsible and bitterly divisive.

Speaking of President Obama, it seems that plenty of religious conservatives (thought not all, thankfully) want to have it both ways. They want to be able to falsely label President Obama as a "Muslim" (as if there is anything wrong with being Muslim in the first place). However, when a Democrat or Liberal dares question their insertion of religion into politics, they cry like a baby that their first amendment rights of freedom of religion are being attacked!! They have rigged the system where they are right when they are right, and right when they are wrong. No wonder they don't want the status quo to change, they have a very effective scam going on.

The silence from Christians after Ms. Graham's ugly statements speak volumes toward their hypocrisy on freedom of religious expression. If they truly stood for religious freedom in America then they would be demanding that Ms. Graham apologize for such polarizing, disrespectful remarks. The irony is that most atheists would love to not have to talk religion, but Christians refuse to acknowledge the secular nature of American government. So, to not defend oneself is such an environment is akin to dropping your weapons in the midst of a battle.

I don't have a problem with people voting against atheist candidates based on their policies, but not based on their atheistic beliefs. Being an ex-Mormon, I have plenty of disagreements with that religion, but I would never not vote for Mitt Romney because of his religion. I don't even need to consider such a factor because his policies are plenty enough information for me not vote for him. I really am concerned about the level of religious discrimination toward non-believers and believers of non Judeo-Christians beliefs. I'm even more concerned about how much religion has been inserted into politics over the past 20-30 years. Let's keep our elections based on policies, please.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Traditional Marriage According to the Bible.

The Fallacy of Using the Bible to Oppose Homosexuality.

I laughed my ass off when I read this. I especially liked this part, "I believe in morality, which is doing right regardless of what I am told...not in religion, which is doing what I am told regardless of what is right." The Bible is one of the most inconsistent and incoherent pieces of religious fiction that I have ever read. And I've read it several times. Believe it or not, I was a Christian missionary at one point; and a good one. So, I've heard it all and read it all. It describes a god that is a petty, vindictive sociopath who is consumed by jealousy. No true god of humility would be such a megalomaniac. The god of the Bible is infested with intolerance and prone to murderous bouts of rage. This deity is the biggest hypocrite known to humanity. So, given all of this; why would anyone worship such a nasty being?

~The Green Man has Spoken~

The Green Man's Curse Part II.

[If you missed part one of this three part series then just click on this sentence to start from page one]That opened my eyes to the world of the occult for the first time but it wouldn't be the last time during my two years in that surreal region of the world. It also began to fill in the picture as to why this place had a palpable energy to it that saturated everything as if it were brought in by the heavy, moisture drunk morning haze. I knew that I had to play by Mother Africa's rules or I might never be the same again but my stubborn teen-age faith in my "God" was too indoctrinated to admit that I was already forever changed. I was aware that Africa was certainly going to be one of the pillars of the temple that is my unfolding life as it continues to be built with each searing disappointment and every drug rush of success. However, unbeknown to me it at the time it was also changing me in ways that stalk the darkest, coldest, corners of my consciousness to this day.

It wasn't long after my encounter with the priest that I began to unravel mentally as I was assaulted with one barely surmountable wave of stress after another but time has a way of pouring away from one's consciousness while one is consumed with missionary zeal. So, within what seemed like days I was informed that I was to be transferred to a new village further north into the interior of the Ivorian jungle. I road upon a bus crammed with people and a small farm of chickens and goats. Our driver did some Indianopolis 500 style driving to avoid killing us all in the chaotic streets of the capital city, Abidjan but finally we were out on a thin concrete vein of a road funneling us deeper and deeper into the green heart of the Ivory Coast. We drove past countless long-haul truckers heading to Burkina Faso or Mali with dangerously overloaded cargo, which often toppled a truck over. Reaching the medium sized village of Yamoussoukro was a bit like going back in time to discover a land frozen in time.

Yamoussoukro is the home village of the first president of the Ivory Coast after their French Colonial masters couldn't steal, enslave, extract or develop anymore resources from the country. Only then did they "graciously grant" the Ivorians independence. At the time when the country was little more than a French outpost, the village of Yamoussoukro was a small, cocoa producing collection of huts and colonial buildings. Once the first president took power though things drastically changed. He spent obscene amounts of money trying to turn it into the new capital city as the recently independent country stretched its long shackled arms. He bulldozed good farm land to make way for 4 and 6 lane highways that he expected the new growing capital would need but like with many African countries the money became scarce. So, despite a few parliament buildings and a very out of place, modern European-style hotel the development came to a stop. Those main traffic arteries built went no further and newly build modern style neighborhoods were cut off from the rest of the village. It was strange to walk a deserted major highway and follow it until it just ends at a wall of jungle.

So, there I was in this odd, part traditional, African village that was also a part semi-modernized city with roads that go nowhere, and parliament buildings that stand unused (except for a few days a year when the leaders convey up there). The rest of the time they keep those fancy buildings pumping out the air conditioning for the "tourists" that show up--all 3 of them a day. All of these buildings are massive in scale; think the Lincoln monument or the Jefferson memorial in America. Yet just behind them lie shacks with dirt floors where average Ivorians scratch out a meager existence. At this time we were living in an old second floor building at the corner where two of these roads to oblivion intersected but no cars ever drove it. In fact, it was so quiet that when we did see or hear a car coming our direction we knew they were coming to our place.

So, one night I'm out late with my companion missionary (we went in twos) and we rise up to the crest of this hill to rest and replenish our lungs. Well, as I'm standing there I can see the local graveyard that has been there probably since man first walked the Earth, and it's partially exposed by an old lamp post. I blink my eyes a bit to focus and here comes this parade of people (four or so) carrying this dead cow upside down by it's four hooves. They are led by a lady dressed all in white with her face and arms painted with white paint. She's ringing bells and singing while clearly in a state of a possessive trance as she jerked her body and head around in a dizzying tornado of limbs and white cloth. I lock eyes with my Congolese friend and then look back at the cemetery where the entourage has now stopped.

The lady in white pulled out a long knife and began to behead this poor animal. They knelt down at this point in what looked like prayer before getting up and walking off with the headless carcass. The lady in white had just stepped into the shadow outside the range of the circle of light poured down by the lamp pole but the cow and two others visible in the pool of light. Suddenly before I could breath they disappeared. As in they vanished from my vision. They where half way through this spot light caring the sacrificed animal and then gone like a dream after waking up. I was paralyzed with fear but somehow I gurgled in French, "Did you see them disappear too?" My friends' eyes were as big as the white eyes of the Easter Island statues and all he could muster was a rapid barrage of nods. That's it, I said and we took off as fast as we could to get back to our upstairs haven, which we assumed was "protected by God." As it turns out, that assumption was more of a delusion (to be continued...)

God Allows Jesus to be Stuck by Lightening.

Monroe, Ohio

A six-story-tall statue of Jesus Christ with his arms raised along a highway was struck by lightning in a thunderstorm Monday night and burned to the ground, police said.

Green Man: Where was "God" on this one?!! The method of destruction is deliciously ironic. Especially for those of us who have to put up with fundamentalist, loud-mouth Christians given that being struck by lightening is often seen amongst many fundamentalist Christians as "God" punishing you for saying something blasphemous, or other "sin." I get annoyed with Christians who claim everything is a sign from "God" but when their church gets flooded or this statue burns to the ground it was just a natural accident. Well, that's convenient isn't it? Maybe "God" and Jesus got into a bit of an argument up within the boardroom of Heaven Inc., and "God" took out the statue to remind the kid who was still in charge.

Maybe the churchgoers weren't praying enough, so "God" nuked the Jesus statue, which brings up another Christian conundrum that I often stump people on. I stole this from the late, great, favorite comedian of mine, George Carlin. When loved ones die despite their relatives praying fervently to save them they often say, "Well, it was 'God's' will that they died. He must have needed them up in heaven." To, which I say, "Well, if 'God' is going to do whatever he wants anyway then why pray in the first place?" It seems pointless, illogical and disrespectful to that very "God" toward whom Christians usually say, "Thy will be done." In praying are you questioning his authority to decide what is best for everyone. These are obvious questions to me and I can't understand why Christians can't see the paradoxes within their own religion such as these. Especially coming from the many well-educated ones.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

Two Mile Long Scar on Great Barrier Reef After Ship Grounding.

"Even if severe toxic contamination is not found at the site, initial assessments by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority indicate it could take 20 years for the world's largest coral reef to recover, said scientist David Wachenfeld. In some areas, "all marine life has been completely flattened and the structure of the shoal has been pulverized by the weight of the vessel," Wachenfeld said."

Green Man: I don't know much about international law but I hope that Australia sues this Chinese shipping company for all they're worth to help pay for the clean up and loss. If we take protecting our natural treasures then there needs to be stiff penalties for damaging such world heritage sites like the Great Barrier Reef. The other aspect of preventing this again is to end our use on fossil fuels--our oceans are a life-line for millions of people and trashing them is like slowly taking poison. The reef has been in existence since possibly twenty million years ago and so it's shocking how fast this massive yet fragile reef can be destroyed.

For centuries man has seen nature as oppressive, tenacious and something to be tamed but we have finally remembered what our ancestors knew--that as nature goes, so goes our species and every other one. We mocked Pagans and other nature based believers because they worshiped rocks and trees but they lived in harmony with the environment and not only survived but thrived. So, now that we're nearly at the point of no return from environmental degradation we need to remember that our ancestors gave us these precious treasures and the wisdom to live amongst them and yet still thrive.

Yet we forgot and/or discarded these gifts in favor of the Christian belief that nature is given to man to do with it what we please. And that since we bought the idea that "God" gave it all to us we assumed that nature was inexhaustible. Thus we arrogantly felt we no longer needed to live in harmony with it because "God" would somehow take care of any complications along the way. Well, oh how wrong we were and still are!! There are still some that believe it doesn't matter how we treat our environment because Jesus will sweep in on a white horse and save us regardless. Yet with each passing year no one comes--just like in the play, "Waiting for Godot" and our world gets increasingly uninhabitable. I can almost hear the ancestors speaking through the whispering trees saying, "We told you so" but that it's still not too late to return to the ancient ways.

~The Green Man has Spoken~

PHOTO CREDIT: NASA

Is "God" Worse than "Satan?"

Who needs "Satan" when you have a "God" like this?

*Robert M. Price*

~The Green Man Has Spoken~